1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shoestring tying apparatus for easily fastening a shoestring of a sport shoe or the like in a sure manner without using fastening tension by hand.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a shoestring is laced through eyelets provided on the opening portion of a sport shoe or the like, and both ends of the shoestring are tied tightly at the ankle of the user. With athletic shoes, tension of the shoestrings is adjusted according to the required performance.
Shoes such sport shoes including a disk for winding up a shoestring on the instep thereof are known. The ends of a shoestring, provided to the opening portion which can be opened for the user putting on or taking off the shoe, are fixed to the disk. Tension of the shoestring is adjusted according to the need of the user while winding the shoestring by rotating the disk in one direction, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-211906 (drawings) (which will be referred to as “patent document 1” hereafter).
On the other hand, in most cases, a conventional shoe 21 shown in FIG. 10 used for sports such as snowboarding, skiing, or the like, is formed with a great depth for fitting up above the ankle, and thus, the shoe needs to be fastened to the ankle tightly so as to allow the user supple movement. Accordingly, it is important to fasten such a shoe tightly to the ankle. In addition, shoemakers are obligated to provide a fastening member 22 integrally formed on the opening portion or the like of the shoe so as to fasten the shoestring tightly, for the safety of the user. Various types of fastening members which can be employed for the aforementioned fastening member 22 are known. For example, arrangements have been proposed as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-237802 (all pages) (which will be referred to as “patent document 2” hereafter), Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-208 (all pages) (which will be referred to as “patent document 3” hereafter), and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-506253 (FIG. 1) (which will be referred to as “patent document 4” hereafter).
The aforementioned Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-211906 describes an adjusting device for adjusting the tension of the shoestring. The adjusting device has a configuration wherein both ends of a shoestring serving as a fastening member are inserted and fixed to a disk having a plate spring fixed thereto. The user pulls the plate spring fixed to the disk so as to rotate the disk for winding the shoestring to the disk, whereby tension of the shoestring can be adjusted. Note that the user should pull the plate spring only one time so as to adjust tension of the shoestring. On the other hand, the aforementioned patent documents 2 through 4 describe tying apparatuses having a configuration wherein the ends of a shoestring are integrally fixed to a winding device beforehand. The user rotates an operating rotor of the winding device several dozen times by hand in order to gradually fasten the shoestring.
The fastening member 22 for a shoestring of any of the aforementioned patent documents 2 through 4 has a configuration for fastening the shoestring 23 in a sure manner, as shown in FIG. 10. With regard to snowboard shoes or the like with a great depth for the ankle, the user rotates a rotational cap 24 or the like serving as a rotor of the fastening member 22 by hand in order to fasten the shoestring 23. However, with regard to any of the aforementioned arrangements, there is the need to rotate the aforementioned rotational cap 24 several dozen times so as to fasten the shoestring 23, which is troublesome for the user. In particular, in many cases, the fingers of the user are so numbed with cold in the winter season that securely fastening the fastening member 22 by rotating the aforementioned rotational cap 24 becomes difficult.